Graphic card to play at 1600x1050

[lbuchele]

What graphic card to buy using with a C2D E8400 (nvidia) .I use my PC mostly to play combat flight simas , that are very demanding on CPU and even more on GPU.
I like to play with every graphic option at maximum settings , at least at 50-60 fps ( hate slow downs).
I´m thinking in a GTX 260 OC . The 9800GX2 was an option but a friend bought one and is not very satisfied due overheating problems.
Another question:Is really necessary upgrade to 4GB RAM?I´m not very convinced that currehnt sofware uses this amount of memory.(of course, maybe I´m just wrong)

 

[rammar16]

i would say the GTX260 sounds just right for you. the 9800GX2 is a dual card design which on one hand is good and another is bad. the good is that if a game take advantage of that card it will out perform the GTX260 however, the down side is that most games aren't great for that card coming in well below the GTX260

as to the RAM if you are running a 64bit vista it is a good thing to have any other OS doesn't really need it.

hope this helps

 

[evongugg]

4 GB of RAM will not help your gaming.
Useful for Vista, virtual machines, video editing, etc.
Standard is 2 GB.

 

[the_politician]

4 GB of RAM will not help your gaming.
Useful for Vista, virtual machines, video editing, etc.
Standard is 2 GB.

I disagree strongly. I saw major gains in going from 2GB to 4GB on both my most recent systems. I run XP 64 on them and they are still up and running. I can guarantee you that if you will see an increase if you add more memory.

 

[rodney_ws]

Given the price of memory, the 2 vs. 4 GB argument should be dead. If you're into gaming and you're spec'n out a new rig, you've pretty much gotta be aiming for a 4 GB system.

 

[swifty_morgan]

The 260 might be overkill depending on what processor you have. Would I still buy it, yes. I own one and it is much better in Crysis than my 4870 512 card. As far as memory goes. Going from 2gig to 4gig is a noticeable difference. Going from 4gig to 8gig was only a slight help in Crysis....mainly while loading... and a few fps more while playing.... might be beneficial in the near future for other games........ who knows ? The card I bought was the xfx 640/2300 w/192 sp.

 

[Onus]

+1 @Rodney.
2GB isn't exactly lame, but the price difference is too small to not get 4GB in a new rig.

 

[lbuchele]

Thanks everybody for your reply.I found very helpful.
I regard of RAM amount, I have seen a benchmark in SimHq showing huge improvements jumping from 512 meg to 1 gig, less improvement for 2 gig jump, maybe no improvement at all at $ gig RAM. But the money argument is strong because upcoming titles probably will do better use of bigger amounts of RAM.

 

[invisik]

4 GB of RAM will not help your gaming.
Useful for Vista, virtual machines, video editing, etc.
Standard is 2 GB.

4gig wont help in gaming??!!??!!??
yes it would. games like crysis and farcry2 need alot of it.
=]

 

[0mg_1ts_m3]

4 GB of RAM will not help your gaming.
Useful for Vista, virtual machines, video editing, etc.
Standard is 2 GB.

i'm sorry, are you one of those cool genious dudes who went to college and specifically got a degree with computers and tells us that more ram=better performance?